Kaatsu / Occlusion training /Blood flow restriction training

http://www.projectswole.com/weight-trai ... -training/

What Kaatsu Training Does

Kaatsu training looks like it can increase muscle hypertrophy significantly more than regular resistance training over an extremely short period of time. In fact the results of the studies show that 2 weeks of Kaatsu training increases muscle mass to a higher degree than 5 weeks of regular resistance training.

The Definition of Occlusion

In medical terms, occlusion is the act of occluding or the state of being occluded; a shutting off or obstruction of something; a blocking of the central passage of one reflex by the passage of another.

Kaatsu training applies occlusion by restricting blood flow to target muscle groups, also called Blood Flow Restriction, or BFR.

So, What is Kaatsu Training?

Kaatsu training involves applying a tourniquet or a tight wrap to the proximal portion of the target limb in order to fully or partially restrict blood flow for the duration of a low intensity exercise session.

The guidelines of Kaatsu training are as follows:

Intensity is 20% of 1 rep max.

Training frequency is twice a day, 6 days per week.

The minimum duration of Kaatsu training is 2 weeks, for a total of 24 sessions in 14 days.

At least 4 hours between sessions.

Occlusion is maintained throughout the entire exercise session.

Why Kaatsu Training Works

The theory is that the metabolic buildup within the restricted muscles elicits a number of physiological changes including a significant rise in growth hormone, which is actually higher than that observed with higher intensity exercise. Isn’t that interesting?

“Another factor to consider is hormone action. Kraemer et al. (1990) have demonstrated that a sufficient amount of high-intensity exercise (approximately 6 sets at an intensity of about 80% 1RM for large muscle groups) carried out with an interset interval as short as 1 min transiently provokes more than a 100-fold increase in the plasma concentration of growth hormone (GH). Since such a dramatic increase in plasma GH concentration was not seen after exercise having a longer interset interval (3 min), it has been speculated that local accumulation of metabolites stimulates the hypophyseal secretion of GH. Our recent study with young male subjects also showed that low-intensity (20% 1RM) exercise with vascular occlusion of the lower extremities caused a 290-fold increase in the plasma concentration of GH, whereas no such effect was seen after the exercise without this occlusion (Takarada et al. 2000a). This stimulated secretion of GH may also play a part in the present effects of LIO.â€

Source:

Effects of resistance exercise combined with vascular occlusion on muscle function in athletes

European Journal of Applied Physiology

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ijktr/1/1/6/_pdf

The major finding of the present study was that

two weeks of twice daily LIT-Kaatsu produced

increases in skeletal muscle size (7-8%) that were

similar in magnitude to those reported in traditional

HIT of 3-4 months [Abe et al., 2000; Jones and

Ratherford, 1987]. Previous published studies [Jones

and Ratherford, 1987; Staron et al., 1991; Staron et

al., 1994] have reported that a substantial increase in

skeletal muscle and fiber CSA in the thigh is not

observed earlier than six weeks of HIT. To the best of

our knowledge, there are no published data that have

reported a significant increase in thigh muscle size

following only two weeks of HIT [Akima et al., 1999].

In most of the previous studies, subjects exercised 2-3

times per week during the study, thus only 4-6

sessions are completed during the first 2 weeks of the

training. Our subjects, however, performed 24

sessions of resistive exercises during the 2 weeks of

training. Optimal training frequency is based on the

theories of “supercompensation†and “over-trainingâ€

which attempt to generate the greatest growth

stimulus while still allowing for sufficient rest

between exercise sessions [Kraemer, 2000]. Since a

training intensity of 20% of 1-RM produces minimal

muscle damage [Takarada et al., 2000a], less recovery

time is necessary [Abe, 2004], and therefore training

frequency may be increased.

An interesting and surprising finding of the present

study was that LIT-Kaatsu training-induced muscle

hypertrophy occurred not only in the thigh muscle

but also in the gluteus maximus muscle. During the

squat exercise, mainly the knee and hip extensor

muscles are activated. Since a training intensity of

20% of 1-RM was used in the present study, it would

seem reasonable that the load on the gluteus

maximus muscle during the squat would be

insufficient to produce the muscle hypertrophy.

However, this was not the case as significant

hypertrophy was observed in the gluteus maximus.

There is an article on the safety of it here

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ijktr/2/1/5/_pdf

comparing with heavy physical exercises, where

mortality rates of 0 to 2.5% per 10,000 have been

reported, especially in older persons (ACSM, 2000;

Kallinen M, 2005), any fatal complications have not

been occurred in KAATSU training. Thus KATSU

training is a safe and promising method for training

persons including older persons.

In conclusion, KAATSU training is a safe and

promising method for training in the field of sports

and healthy persons, and can also be applied to

persons with various kinds of physical condition

including cerebrovascular diseases, orthopedic

diseases, obesity, cardiac diseases, neuromuscular

diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory

diseases.

I am not a gymnast but have rings & enjoy using them. I have been doing this training protocol for the last ~2 weeks and have seen a slight increase in upper arm size already, which has been stable for a very long time. I have started deadlifts & squats which might have triggered upper body growth too, but it is light wieghts, bodyweight squats, 12kg goblet squats, 41kg deadlifts. I have also been doing body rows, ring pushups, tricep ring extensions. I have just started to cycle with legs restricted too as I commute to work. I have not tested any 1RM, and it will be more likely a 8-10RM that I test as I have noted these and rarely do 1RM work.

Obviously excessive hypertrophy will not be benficial to gymnasts, but on other sites they mention the mention the potential for recover from injury. There were reports of people with broken limbs who just had mild occlusion which stopped atrophy. At 20% RM you might be able to safely exercise and injured shoulder etc.

Plenty more studies on google scholar

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... =&as_vis=0

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=blo ... as_sdtp=on

Hell 290% gh release?! That's gotta be big.

Can someone write something more about this method? Since I need to gain some weight, this sounds promising but also too good to be true. Sounds like natural steroids... almost.

Kaatsu / Occlusion training /Blood flow restriction training

Foolishness.

Quit trying to find the silver bullet. There is no substitute for steady, consistent, progressive training.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer